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TAPI gas pipeline project breaks ground at Turkmenistan’s border with Afghanistan
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Why is it in news?
- Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India (TAPI) ceremonially broke ground on the Afghan section of an ambitious, multi-billion dollar gas pipeline, expected to help ease energy deficits in South Asia.
Details
- Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his Turkmen counterpart Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov joined Pakistani Premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and India’s Minister of State for External Affairs M.J. Akbar for the ceremony at gas-rich Turkmenistan’s border with Afghanistan.
- The pipeline would act as a uniting factor for the countries.
- The quartet aims to complete the 1,840-km (1,143-mile) pipeline and begin pumping natural gas from Turkmenistan’s giant Galkynysh gas fields by the beginning of 2020.
- While the pipeline will traverse war-wracked Afghanistan, raising security concerns, the bulk of the 33 billion cubic metres of gas to be pumped annually through the conduit will be purchased by South Asian rivals Pakistan and India.
- Turkmenistan currently depends heavily on China as a market for its natural gas exports. Hence, the diversification of gas deliveries is an important part of the politics of the isolated Central Asian country.
- Turkmenistan sits on the world’s fourth-largest gas reserves but lost a major buyer in Russia after Russian energy giant Gazprom wound down imports of Turkmen gas and then ceased purchases completely in 2016
- India’s commitment to the pipeline has previously been questioned over its relationship with Pakistan and easy-access to liquified natural gas markets seen as potential stumbling blocks.
- The overall funding picture for the mammoth gas pipeline remains unclear, with commercial energy giants such as France’s Total failing to follow up on reported interest in the project.
About TAPI Gas Pipeline
- The Turkmenistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan–India Pipeline (TAPI), also known as Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline, is a natural gas pipeline being developed by the Galkynysh – TAPI Pipeline Company Limited with participation of the Asian Development Bank.
- The pipeline will transport natural gas from the Galkynysh Gas Field in Turkmenistan through Afghanistan into Pakistan and then to India.
- Construction on the project started in Turkmenistan on December 13th, 2015. The pipeline is expected to be operational by 2019.
- The abbreviation TAPI comes from the first letters of those countries.
- Proponents of the project see it as a modern continuation of the Silk Road.
- However, the ambiguity relating to the financing of the project, the instability in Afghanistan and frosty India-Pakistan relations cast doubts of uncertainty over the project.
Source
The Hindu